Dolphins and Firefighters
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: In which Steph is a gorilla and Paul spends the morning talking with his daughters. - One-shot.


"Rora says," Paul's nearly seven year old informed him one day as they ate breakfast, "that she's gonna be a wrestler. Like you."

It was actually a rather quite day in the Levesque house, for once. It was summer, which meant there was no rush to get the girls anywhere. And, though he had to get down to the office eventually, it wasn't until around noon that he would have a meeting and he wasn't going out of town or just getting back into it.

Steph was gone though. With Aurora. Which left Paul with his two babies, but that was fine. He'd get them all ready for the day, himself ready, wait for their nanny to show up, and then head into work.

Perfect lazy summer day.

Stabbing at the yoke of his fried egg, Paul gave Murphy, his middle child, a wide grin. "Is that what she said?"

Nodding, his daughter was quick to add, "But that's nasty."

"Nasty?" His grin fell a bit. "What do you mean? How is it nasty?"

She only made a face though, over at him. "You get sweaty."

"You can get sweaty doing anything!"

"Anything's nasty too then."

Paul opened his mouth to respond, but noticed then what his other daughter was currently doing.

"Vaughn," he grumbled a bit, glancing over at her. "What are you doing?"

"Eatin'."

"You don't eat by licking your plate."

You do when you've finished your bacon and you wanna lick up all the juicy drops of grease its left behind.

"And your getting your hair in the rest of your food. You wanna eat scrambled eggs that have hair in them? Huh?"

Lifting her head up, she giggled at her father who tried, at first, to fight his own. Then he remembered Steph wasn't there and that discipline wasn't important. He giggled along with her, reaching over to gently ruffle her soft blonde hair.

"You're gonna need a bath anyways, I guess," he gave in as she gave him a big grin. "Silly."

"You do too," Murphy accused, frowning across the table at him. With her mother gone, she'd sat in Stephanie's spot at the six chair kitchen table, at the opposite head of it than her father. "Daddy. You're nasty."

"Stop saying that. And I haven't wrestled in a very long time! So there."

"Nasty."

"Murph-"

"I wan' more." Vaughn, who hadn't touched her eggs nor her toast, pushed her plate towards her father. "Daddy."

"More?" That time, he honestly did frown at her. "Vaughn, you have a full plate of food."

"No."

"Yes, you do! You have eggs and t-"

"Want more."

"More wha- Bacon? Is that what you want more of?" Other than her glass of juice, which was nearly empty, that was the only thing missing on her plate. Rolling his eyes, Paul said, "No, kid. You can't have anymore bacon."

"More!"

"No." She was at his right side and he leaned over to push her plate gently towards her once more. "Eat some of your eggs and toast, huh? If you girls hurry up and eat, we'll have a lot of time this morning to do whatever you want."

Which was a pretty good incentive for both of them. Their father, since their births, had been a very busy man. Not that he didn't make sure to spend all the time he could with them, because he did, but it was a lot to juggle. He had a wife, three daughters, and the all consuming business that didn't rest for anything or anyone.

His daily plate was more filled than Vaughn's was when Paul finally gave up, about twenty minutes later, on forcing her to eat.

It felt kind of funny, to them all, for Aurora not to be there when, after baths and getting dressed, they sat down in their designated playroom to, well, play. As the oldest, she dictated a lot of their play time, both Vaughn and Murphy felt. Even more so when Daddy was around.

Unfortunately for Vaughn, however, Murphy was not the least bit sympathetic to the younger sibling syndrome and, finding herself the eldest at the moment, filled right in for Aurora. She immediately decided they were going to play house _her way_ and not Aurora's typical way, which meant she got to dig through one of the toy boxes and find who was going to be what.

"Daddy, you be the daddy."

Of course.

Paul frowned when he was presented a plastic tiger from one of their zoo animal sets of toys. "Uh, Murph...why is the daddy an animal?"

She was over at the toy box once more and glared over her shoulder at him, as if believing that he were dense.

"Because they're all animals." She pulled out a gorilla and sat it down. "I'm gonna be the mommy."

"Is Mommy the...gorilla?"

"Mmhmm."

Pulling out his phone, Paul let Murphy get back to work, locating all the zoo animals as Vaughn sat on the other side of the room, keeping busy while waiting for her sister to assign all the roles by singing her ABCs while pointing out each letter on the rug she happened to be on.

 _Where are you?_

It didn't take Steph long to respond to his text.

 _Why? Miss me?_

 _Miss one of you, at least_.

"Daddy, are you playin' on your phone?" Murphy didn't like that. At all. Even though she was still trying to find all the toys that she wanted them to use, the idea of him getting engrossed in his cell wasn't one she enjoyed. She knew how quickly work could ruin a good time. "You have to be the daddy!"

"I'm always the daddy." In everything. "And I'm just talking to Mommy."

That was an acceptable answer and got her off his back. Just in time for Steph to text back.

 _Aurora will be crushed._

 _Trust me, she won't be the one crushed._

Paul shifted from lying on his side to sit up then and, steadying the camera, he took a photo of Murphy from behind, though he had it more focused downward, on the floor. Sending it to Steph, he added a message.

 _See that? By her foot?_

It didn't take long to get a reply.

 _What? The monkey?_

 _Gorilla. Thought you went to college?_

He could almost hear Steph giggle and see her roll her eyes. Almost.

 _Well, it's been a few._ She sent him some stupid emojis, which was always annoying. After though, she added, _So what about it?_

"Daddy, is it still Mommy?" Murphy came over to drop a lion in front of him as well as an elephant and three bears, all in different poses. "You're not lyin'?"

"Daddies don't lie, baby."

If he said so…

To his wife, Paul texted back, _It's you._

 _What's me?_

 _The gorilla._

It only took about thirty seconds before him to receive a call.

"Are you calling me a fat? Or something?"

"Good morning to you too, my perfect wife. How are you?"

"Paul-"

"We're all doing fine here," he went on, ignoring the slight annoyance in her tone then. "In case you're wondering."

"Not particularly, no."

Heh.

"How's Rora? Is she with you? Tell her that Daddy is-"

"Why did you just call me a monkey?"

"Gorilla."

"Whatever."

"Uh, no, not whatever. Seriously, Steph, are you even qualified for the job you have now?"

"Paul-"

"I'm playing house with the girls," he said as Vaughn, noticing he was talking to her mother, gave up on her ABCs and came to investigate. "With animals. And Murph, your oh, so loving daughter decided that the daddy was going to be a tiger."

"I'm still waiting for-"

"While you, Mommy, get to be a gorilla." He fell onto his back then, when Vaughn tried to snatch the phone from him, complaining about how she wanted to talk to Mommy too. "Just thought you should know."

"Uh-huh."

"It's true! And Vaughn is about to kill me over here, she misses you so much. Talk to her, please?"

"I only have a minute."

"Then spend it with her. I'm done teasin' you."

"Thankfully."

Paul let Steph talk to both girls, for far longer than a minute, and he got to talk to Aurora, though she was in one of those moods where talking to him was uncool or something. At the moment, she was with Steph, dealing with some stuff down in Florida at the Performance Center, and apparently felt like she was too old to have Paul tell her how much he loved and missed her.

Which would be a stark contrast, he knew, to how she'd be when she did got back home and would want him to spend all that time with her. And wouldn't she be surprised when, in retaliation, Paul…

Totally did it because, hey, what could you do?

She did tell him about how she was having fun, down there at the center, and had even trained a bit, which he ribbed her on until Steph said that they had to go.

Then it was just him and the babies.

"See?" Murphy had gathered all the toys they needed, apparently, and gave him a rather solemn look. "Rora wants to be you."

"Rora wants to be Rora," he corrected gently. "And if that has to do with wrestling, that's fine."

"It's nasty," Murphy continued to insist as Vaughn, content in that she got to hear her mother's voice (and explain to her the injustice that was the bacon fiasco earlier), took the monkey, lion cub, and crocodile she'd been given and mostly awaited instruction. "Wrestlin's nasty."

Making a face at her, Paul asked, "Well, what do you wanna be then? Huh? Murph? When you get older?"

Hmmm…

"I wanna be," she told him as she took to setting all the animals up on the carpet, "a dolphin."

And he was done. So done.

"A...dolphin, baby?"

"Mmmhmm."

"How exactly do you plan on becoming a...dolphin?"

"I dunno."

"Are you gonna still be a human? A human dolphin? Or are you gonna morph back and forth or-"

"I don't," Murphy griped, shoving a toy dog at him (how that qualified as a zoo animal, he had no idea), "know, Daddy. Now play."

"Well, hold on a second, here. We're talking."

Ugh.

She finally got some time to be the one that controlled their play and Daddy was going to waste it all by talking through it.

So annoying.

"This is very important," Paul continued as he laid stretched out on his side, holding the dog in one hand, using the other to prop up his head. "Now, can you become any other animal? Or just dolphins?"

"Daddy-"

"And if you have to stay a dolphin forever, can I come visit you? Or do you plan on me spending my hard earned money on building you an aquatic center down in the basement? Huh? Take out the gym that I spent my whole life dreaming of having, just so that you can live as a dolphin? You better be lucky I love you, little girl." Glancing over a Vaughn then, he had to drop the dog in his hand to grab the elephant in hers, which was quickly being shifted to her mouth (Vaughn was a chewer, even at four). "What are you gonna be, Vaughn? Huh? It's about time to decide; you know that you start school in the fall."

Oh, she knew. She was ready. Did he or did he not hear her singing her ABCs earlier?

"I'mma be a..." Hmmm. Vaughn thought harder. "A fire farter."

"Firefighter," Paul corrected.

"That's what I said!" she griped right back. When he raised his eyebrows at her tone, Vaughn added a giggle and went back to staring down at her assigned toys. "Daddy."

"Uh-huh."

"How come you wanna be a firefighter, baby?" He asked with a bemused grin. "Huh?"

"They get to slide down the pole!" She was very excited about that. At the playground that they went to, there was a pole there too, that you could slide down, and it was super fun! If she could turn that into a career (plus putting out icky fires from time to time), then what would be better than that?

"O-Oh." Paul blinked. "Well, I guess with that qualification, you could be worse things, but-"

"Daddy, I wanna play." Murphy was unconcerned with her sister's hopes and dreams (as well as lack there of). "Please? Before you go to work?"

Sighing, he reached over to pat her on the head. "Before I go to work."

It was late that night, long after he put to the girls to be and longer still since he spent a grueling seven hours up at the office, dealing with Vince, when Paul's wife and oldest daughter got home.

"Traffic on the way from the airport?" he asked as he pushed up from the couch, where he'd been watching mostly nothing, and went to greet them in the foyer. Bluto, their mastiff, came bumbling down the stairs as well, to investigate. "You're super late."

"Stopped to eat," Steph informed him as Paul mostly focused on bending down to pull Aurora into a tight hug. "You know, bananas. For gorillas. Since that's what I am to you."

"I'm just glad that you finally learned the difference between gorillas and monkeys," Paul retorted, standing there then, having lifted Aurora up in the air. For as grown up as she'd been acting earlier, she sure had her arms wrapped tightly around his neck then, burying her head in his shoulder. "And mmm, Rora, how was your trip?"

"Good," came her muffled response as she refused to let him go. Paul grinned over at Steph, though she didn't notice, as she was bent over, greeting Bluto.

"Well, let Daddy take both your bags upstairs, huh?"He finally dropped her down on the ground once more. "And then you gotta head up to bed; it's late. And I'm sure your sisters will have you up early in the morning, to talk about all you did."

And for Murphy to explain how great a time she had, those three days without Aurora. How being the oldest was the best.

As if Aurora needed to be reminded.

Leaving Steph to her dog, Paul took the bags and Aurora upstairs, to her bedroom, listening to her softly explain to him how her flight back home had been. Aurora really liked airplanes, for some reason. Murph and Vaughn, whenever they flew, felt indifferent, but Aurora thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Right up there with him, he was quick to remind himself. Since, apparently, she wanted to be just like him.

This, of course, was what Paul brought up to his wife as they eventually found themselves in their bedroom at the same time, him falling into bed, her heading to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Steph was hardly listening though, he could tell, so he figured he'd regale her in other ways.

"You know, babe," he called to her as Bluto, who'd followed them into the room (he actually had his own bed in the living room, but was missing Steph, apparently, so Paul was letting it slide), "I also found out that one of our daughters wants to be a firefighter."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Uh-huh."

"That's-"

"And Murph needs us to build her an enclosure in the basement."

That got a pause. "Come again?"

"She's gonna be a dolphin!"

Pause. Then groan. "Paul-"

"Her words. Not mine."

"Clearly, you misunderstood what she was saying."

"And clearly you misunderstand her in general."

Sigh. Then, "How did this even come up?"

"Obviously when I was bragging to them too about Rora wanting to be just like me."

"Obviously."

"Murph thinks wrestling is nasty."

"And swimming in an ocean full of fish feces and human garbage-"

"Magical."

"Makes sense."

"Mmmhmm." He shifted on the bed, away from the center of it, and onto his side when, finally, she turned off the light in the bathroom and headed back into the bedroom. "You know I missed you, right?"

"But did you?"

"Oh, yes, deeply. Did I leave that out this whole time?"

"A little."

"We all have off days."

"Uh-huh."

She spent some time rubbing Bluto's belly before coming to climb into bed. The second she did, Paul rolled onto his side and pulled her up to him.

"I gotta be up by six tomorrow," he said as he nuzzled his head into her neck, Steph playfully pushing him away, "else I'd show you just how much I missed you."

"It's underrated, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"Just getting to sleep in the same bed." As he fell onto his back once more, she did scoot further back from him, but left a hand on his chest. "It's enough for me."

He laid one of his hands over the one she rested against his pec. "Can hardly contain myself."

"I figured."

"That sexy number you're in right now-"

"I'm wearing, like, the ugly nightgown ever. And it's honestly too hot for it, actually."

"Then how about," he breathed, turning his head to stare at her, "taking it off?"

Steph gave him a look. "What happened to you needing your sleep?"

"Well, you know, a very wise four year old once told me over breakfast," he said as he sat up then and, with a sigh, Steph sat up to slip the gown right back over her head, "that if you like bacon, you should just only eat bacon. Ever."

"That does sound like something a four year old would say, I'll give you that."

"For some reason though, the big bad jerk didn't give her any bacon."

"Because he knew it wasn't good for her, I'd figure." Out of the gown, Steph moved to straddle his waist as Paul only reveled in the feeling of her over him.

"Then are you gonna end this here? Since it's not good for me?"

"Why's it not good for you? The almost fifty thing?"

He gave her a frown. "Nowhere close to fifty, thanks."

"Sure."

"It's no good for me because I need sleep."

"Is that right?"

"Mmmhmm."

"'cause I hear this helps people get to sleep."

"Oh?"

With a nod, Steph said, "You'll sleep like a baby."

"Well, with an incentive..."

Giggling, she reached out to rest her hand on his head, feeling the fuzz beneath her palm. "I forget, sometimes, that I don't have anything to tug at anymore, when you're bad."

"Compromise," he suggested, hands moving up from her waist. "I just won't be bad anymore."

The next morning came too soon for Paul, but as Steph didn't have to get up nearly as early as he did (that day, anyways), he only slipped out of bed as silently as he could and went to grab a shower. After it, he was busy letting Bluto out to go pee and do his standard security check which, at his age, meant he'd circle half the property, peeing on most the bushes, and then come back to be let in, when Paul heard one of the doors upstairs open and close.

"What are you doing, Murph?" Paul was in the kitchen, making something in the blinder. Rubbing at her eyes, she came closer to investigate. "Did I wake you? You don't get to get up for a long while. You should go back to bed."

"I wanna go with you."

"Go with me where?"

She wasn't sure. But he was dressed in work attire (which, currently, looked nothing like his old work attire, but whatever) of some black pants and a dress shirt.

"I dunno." Holding her arms up when she was close enough, she jumped until he picked her up and set her on the counter, beside the blender. Glancing in at the putrid green mixture he'd created, she said, "Looks nasty, Daddy."

"You sure love that word recently, huh?" He turned away from her then, to go grab something else out of the fridge to add in there. "Your calling me nasty, my work nasty, now my food is nasty. Are you mad at me about something?"

"No," she giggled sleepily, kicking her feet back and forth over the edge of the counter. "I'm not."

"Good." She watched as he came to drop whatever it was in the blender as well before putting the cap on it and turning it on once more. Leaning down, she watched with interest as the things inside got all spun around. When he turned off the machine once more, he said, "I'd hate for you to be mad at me."

Shaking her head, she said, "You're not nasty, Daddy."

"Thank you."

And, since Steph wasn't up to scold him, he drank his disgusting mixture straight from the blender, no straw or nothing. Murph watched him down it with a big grin. And after drinking it in one big gulp, Paul let out far too loud of a belch for the sun not even to fully be up yet.

Or ever, his wife would say. Burping was impolite.

"Now," he said after wiping his mouth off with a dishrag. "You have got to go back upstairs and get into bed again, Murph."

"No." She was whining too as he came to lift her into his arms. "I said I wanna go with you."

"I'm just going to the office, silly. I'll be back tonight."

Still, she wasn't happy as he hauled her back off to her bedroom, letting Bluto back inside on the way. Murphy tried, as they headed up to her bedroom, to explain to him why she was just perfect to take to the office, but he wasn't having it.

Finally, once they were in her bedroom and he was about to lay her down, she said, "If I wanna be a wrestler like Rora does, _then_ can I go with you?"

He was about to drop her, but stopped at that. Holding his hands beneath her arms, he held her out a bit so that they could stare at one another, in the darkness of her bedroom.

"Murph, that's not the reason that Rora got to go with Mommy." Then he frowned. "Well, I mean, it helped. But she just got to go because it's summer and she had nothing else to do."

"It's summer and I ain't got nothin' else to do."

"But you're only six."

"Seven!"

"Not yet you're not."

"Soon 'nough."

"But soon enough isn't good enough." He kissed her head then as she giggled. "When you're Rora's age, you get to do the things she does. For now though, you get to do the same things she got to do when she was your age. Sometimes you get to go to shows. Ain't that enough? Murph?"

"No."

"Well, then, that sucks." More kisses. Then, "And Daddy doesn't want you to be a wrestler if you don't wanna be one. If you wanna be...a dolphin then…Daddy will donate a bunch to genetic research and maybe one day, huh?"

"I wanna go to space," she told him then. "Now."

"As a dolphin?"

"No," she giggled. "As a people."

"A person."

"Yeah."

"I love you, silly." A final kiss before, slowly, he moved to lay her down gently in her bed. "There you go, Murph. Go back to sleep, huh? Mommy won't be up for another hour or so. And I'll see you when I get home."

"Promise?"

Grinning, he leaned down to nuzzle his forehead to hers. "Promise."

* * *

 **I got a request for the fact that Steph said that Aurora's been training up at the Performance Center and that Natalya's trained her before, so here this is. I wasn't really sure what to do with that, but figured it'd be nice to think about what the other kids want to be. Even if it is a dolphin…**

 **More request fics coming, among other things. And, as always, send me some if there's something you want to see. I'll get around to them all eventually.**


End file.
